I could learn to love vests

It’s been awhile since we had a little show and tell of knitting projects, so I thought I might catch you up.

We’ll start with a very green cardigan that has one and a quarter sleeves so far:

This sweater-in-progress has appeared here before, and I probably even said nice things about it because it seemed to be going along quite well through most of the summer. Probably right after I jinxed myself by saying so, it started to go sideways. I finished the first sleeve and tried it on and couldn’t help but notice that that it was a little lumpy and misshapen at the top where it meets the shoulder, like there was just too much fabric. I examined it in the mirror from every angle I could and reread the pattern to make sure I didn’t miss anything (nope) and thought about how I should really block it out before I went any farther.

And then I decided to just pretend it was totally fine and press on. Partly because the idea of ripping out that entire sleeve that I had picked up at the shoulder and knit down to the wrist was more than I could bear in that moment but mostly because I wanted something to knit that evening, and there was nothing else in the basket. This was August, back when the Rio Olympics were happening, and my daily leisure was spent knitting and watching sport. So I pressed on and soon enough I had the second sleeve cap nearly complete, and a stitch count that didn’t correspond to the pattern in any way. Figuring out where I went wrong would require my full attention, and I didn’t have full attention to offer it, so I conceded and set it aside. I’ve been studiously ignoring it ever since.

When I abruptly lost the sweater project, I panicked a bit and rummaged through a drawer of yarn and cast on for a hat. It occupied me happily for a whole two or three days of Olympic watching and in the end I got a hat that I rather like the look of and unfortunately, makes my head look like a misshapen mushroom.It had a similar effect on Dean, so it sits in the hat drawer waiting for an unsuspecting visitor who it might flatter enough to take it home.

So you can probably see where I was going when I cast on another sweater, this one filled with nice boring knitting.The body occupied me for the remainder of my Olympic watching and my September travels. I picked up that giant collar and happily knit mindlessly through the beginning of October. And then I started on the sleeves, again picking up stitches at the shoulder and knitting down. This weekend I was just finishing off the sleeve cap and joining it into the round, and noticed that something seemed off. I was looking at the shape of the sleeve, and re-reading the pattern… and I realized exactly what was happening again. But this time, I just bailed. It’s not worth the trouble. Ripped out what I had, and cast on from the cuff. I’ll knit the sleeve and then set them in with a seam.